"My object being to ascertain the boundaries of the southern termination

of the eastern branch of Lake Torrens, as laid down by Mr. Eyre, and also

the nature of the country between Flinders range, as high as the parallel

of Mount Hopeless, and the meridian of 141 degrees, (the eastern limits

of the province), I kept at first a course as near N.N.E. as the nature

of the ground would admit, to ensure my not passing to the east of this

extremity of the lake; from whence I intended, if possible, to pursue a

line nearly north-east, as far as my time and the means at my disposal

would allow me, hoping to reach the high land laid down by Sir Thomas

Mitchell, on the right banks of the Darling, to the north of Mount Lyell,

and thus ascertain if any reasonable hope existed of penetrating at some

future time towards the interior from thence. The continued heavy rains

which had fallen for more than three weeks before my departure from

Adelaide, on the 8th July, and for nearly a fortnight afterwards, had

left the surface water in pools on the scrubby plains, and in some of the

ravines; but on proceeding north, it was evident that these rains had not

been there so general or so heavy, though by steering from point to point

of the hills, after crossing the Black Rock Range at Rowe's Creek, I was

able to find sufficient water for the horses, and to replenish the kegs

every second or third day. From this spot, the plains, as well as the

higher land, appeared evidently to dip away to the north-east, the barren

hills all diminishing in elevation, and the deep watercourses from

Flinders range all crossing the plains in that direction. In one of these

watercourses, the Siccus (lat. about 31 degrees 55 minutes), whose

section nearly equals that of the Murray, there were indications of not

very remote floods having risen to between twenty and thirty feet above

its bed, plainly marked by large gum-trees lodged in the forks of the

standing trees, and lying high up on its banks, on one of which I

remarked dead leaves still on the branches; and in another creek (Pasmore

River), lat. 31 degrees 29 minutes, a strong current was running at the

spot where we struck it (owing, I suppose, to recent heavy rains among

the hills from whence it has its source), but below this point the bed

was like that of all the other creeks, as dry as if no rain had ever

fallen, and with occasional patches of various shrubs, and salt water

tea-tree growing in it. After crossing the low ridge above Prewitt's

Springs, lat. 31 degrees 45 minutes, forming the left bank of the basin

of the Siccus, the plain extended between the north and east as far as

the eye could reach, and the lurid glare of the horizon, as we advanced

northward, plainly indicated the approach of Lake Torrens, which, from

the direction I had followed, I expected to turn about this point. I was

obliged, however, to continue a northerly course for the sake of water,

which I could only hope to find in the ravines of the hills on our left,

as high as the parallel of 30 degrees 59 minutes, where the lake was

visible within fifteen or sixteen miles, and appeared from the high land

to be covered with water, studded with islands, and backed on the east by

a bold rocky shore. These appearances were, however, all deceptive, being

caused solely by the extraordinary refraction, as on riding to the spot

the following day, not a drop of water was to be seen in any direction.

The islands turned out to be mere low sandy ridges, very scantily clothed

with stunted scrub on their summits, and no distant land appeared any

where between the north and south-east, though from the hills above our

camp of the previous night, I could discern, with the aid of a very

powerful telescope, a ridge of low land, either on the eastern side of

the lake, or rising out of it, distant at least seventy miles, rendered

visible at that distance by the excessive refractive power of the

atmosphere on the horizon. A salt crust was seen at intervals on the

surface of the sand at the margin of the lake, or as it might more

properly be called, the Desert; but this appearance might either be

caused by water brought down by the Siccus, and other large watercourses

spreading over the saline soil in times of flood, or by rain, and

appeared to me no proof of its ever being covered with water for any

period of time. A few pieces of what appeared drift timber were also

lying about its surface. The sand, as we advanced farther east, became

more loose and drifting, and not a blade of grass, or any species of

vegetation, was visible, rendering hopeless any attempt to cross it with

horses. This point of the lake shore, being by Mr. Eyre's chart about

thirty miles to the westward of where I found it, I thought it advisable

to push further north, in the direction of the highest point of the

range, which I imagined was probably his Mount Serle; for though it was

not to be expected that Mr. Eyre, whose principal and almost sole object

was to discover a road to the interior, would, at the same time, have

been able to lay down the position of his route with the same accuracy

that might have been expected from a surveyor; this difference of

longitude prevented my being certain of the identity of the spot, or that

the range on our left, might not after all, be another long promontory

running to the north, similar to that on the western side of which was

Mr. Eyre's course. The appearance of the country, however, from the hills

close under Mount Serle (for the perpendicular cliffs on the east side of

this range of hills prevented my ascending to their summit without

turning them among the ranges, for which I had not time), convinced me at

once, from its perfect accordance with the description given by Mr. Eyre,

that his eastern arm of Lake Torrens was the sandy desert I had left, its

surface being about three hundred feet above the level of the sea; and

our two converging lines having thus met at Mount Serle, I knew it was

useless to advance further in the same direction to a spot which he had

named, from the impossibility of proceeding beyond it, "Mount Hopeless."

"I was thus forced to return to Pasmore River, as the nearest point from

whence I could cross to the low hills to the eastward, south of Lake

Torrens; and from thence I sent back to the depot two men of the party,

and three horses--the former for the sake of their rations, and the

latter on account of the probable difficulty I should have in procuring

water--taking on with me only Mr. Henderson and Mr. Hawker on foot, with

the light cart and one policeman. The second evening I made the most

northern of these hills, but could not find a drop of water in any of

them; and having unluckily lost the policeman, who had crossed in front

of the dray and got entangled in the dense scrub, I was detained three

days riding upon his tracks, until I had traced them to our dray tracks

from the depot at the Black Rock Hill, which he reached in safety, after

being out five days without food. The cart, in the mean time, had been

obliged to leave the spot where I left it, for want of water--having been

out six days without obtaining any but what we carried in the kegs; and

when I overtook it, we had not sufficient provisions for another attempt,

the period of one month, for which they were intended to last, having

already nearly expired.

"I very much regret not having been able to reach, at all events, within

sight of Mount Lyell; but where I turned I could plainly see the whole

country within fifty or sixty miles of the boundaries of the province,

and can speak with almost as much confidence of its absolute sterility as

if I had actually ridden over it. It would certainly be possible in the

wet season to take a small party from Prewitt's Springs across to this

hill of Sir Thomas Mitchell (distant about one hundred and sixty miles),

by carrying on water for eight or ten days; but no further supply might

be found short of the Darling (eighty miles beyond Mount Lyell), on which

river it would be madness to attempt anything without a considerable

force, on account of the natives; and the same point might be reached in

nearly as short a time, and with much more certainty, with any number of

men that might be considered necessary, by ascending the Murray as high

as the Laidley Ponds, and proceeding north from thence.

"On returning to the depot, I moved the party down to Mount Bryan, and

made another attempt on the 25th August, with Mr. Henderson, and one man

leading a pack-horse, to the north-east, hoping, from the heavy rains

which had fallen during the past two months, to find sufficient water in

the ravines to enable me to push on for several days. The second day, I

crossed the high range I had observed from the Black Rock Hills and Mount

Bryan, for the southern termination of which Colonel Gawler steered when

he left the northern bend of the Murray in December, 1839; but though

these hills had an elevation of twelve hundred or fourteen hundred feet

above the plain, there was no indication of rain having fallen there

since the deluge. This want of water prevented my proceeding further to

the north-east; but from the summit of the highest of these hills (Mount

Porcupine,) I had a clear view of the horizon in every direction, and a

more barren, sterile country, cannot be imagined.

"The direction of the dividing ridge between the basin of the Murray and

the interior desert plain was generally about north-east from the Black

Rock Hills (the highest point north of Mount Bryan,) gradually decreasing

in elevation, and, if possible, increasing in barrenness. The summits of

those hills I found invariably rock--generally sandstone--the lower

slopes covered with dense brush, and the valleys with low scrub, with

occasional small patches of thin wiry grass. I was obliged to return on

the third day, and reached the foot of Mount Bryan on the fourth evening,

at the southern extremity of which hill the horses were nearly bogged in

the soft ground, though only fifty miles distant from land where the dust

was flying as if in the midst of summer.

"It appears to me certain, from the result of these different attempts,

that there is no country eastward of the high land extending north from

Mount Bryan, as far as Mount Hopeless, a distance of about three hundred

miles, as far as the meridian of 141 degrees (and probably much beyond

it), available for either agricultural or pastoral purposes; and that,

though there may be occasional spots of good land at the base of the main

range on the sources of the numerous creeks flowing from thence towards

the inland desert, these must be too limited in extent to be of any

present value.

"The nature of the formation of the main range I found generally

iron-stone, conglomerate and quartz, with sandstone and slate at the

lower elevation. At the points of highest elevation from Mount Bryan

northward, igneous rocks of basaltic character protruded from below,

forming rugged and fantastic outlines.

"At one spot, particularly, about 30 degrees, there were marked

indications of volcanic action, and several hollows resembling small

craters of extinct volcanoes, near one of which we found a small spring

of water, maintaining always a temperature of about 76 degrees Farenheit,

when the thermometer standing in water in the kegs stood at 52 degrees,

and in the atmosphere at 54 degrees.

"The accompanying sketch of the country from Mount Bryan northwards, will

probably explain its character better than any written description. The

altitudes marked at the different spots where they were observed, were

obtained by the temperature of boiling water, as observed by two

thermometers; but as they were not graduated with sufficient minuteness

for such purposes, the results can only be considered approximate."

E. C. FROME,

Capt. Royal Engineers,

Surveyor-General.

September 14th, 1843.

In the above report it will be observed, that there are some apparent

discrepancies between my account and Captain Frome's. First, with respect

to the position of the south-east extremity of Lake Torrens. Captain

Frome states that he found that point thirty miles more to the east than

I had placed it in my chart. Now the only sketch of my course under

Flinders range, and that a rough one, which I furnished to the Colonial

Government, was sent from Port Lincoln, and is the same which was

subsequently published with other papers, relative to South Australia,

for the House of Commons, in 1843. This sketch was put together hastily

for his Excellency the Governor, that I might not lose the opportunity of

forwarding it when I sent from Port Lincoln to Adelaide for supplies

early in October, 1840. It was constructed entirely, after I found myself

compelled to return from the northern interior, and could only be

attended to, in a hurried and imperfect manner, during the brief

intervals I could snatch from other duties, whilst travelling back from

the north to Port Lincoln (nearly 400 miles,) during which time my

movements were very rapid, and many arrangements, consequent upon

dividing my party at Baxter's range, had to be attended to; added to this

were the difficulties and embarrassments of conducting myself one

division of the party to Port Lincoln, through 200 miles of a desert

country which had never been explored before, and which, from its arid

and sterile character, presented impediments of no ordinary kind.

Upon my return to Adelaide in 1841, after the Expedition had terminated,

other duties engrossed my time, and it was only after the publication of

Captain Frome's report, that my attention was again called to the

subject. Upon comparing my notes and bearings with the original sketch I

had made, I found that in the hurry and confusion of preparing it, whilst

travelling, I had laid down all the bearings and courses magnetic,

without allowing for the variation; nor can this error, perhaps, be

wondered at, considering the circumstances under which the sketch was

constructed.

At Mount Hopeless the variation was 4 degrees E., at Mount Arden it was 7

degrees 24 minutes E. Now if this variation be applied proportionably to

all the courses and bearings as marked down in the original chart,

commencing from Mount Arden, it will be found that Mount Serle will be

brought by my map very nearly in longitude to where Captain Frome places

it. [Note 30 at end of para.] Our latitudes appear to agree exactly.

The second point upon which some difference appears to exist

between Captain Frome's report and mine is the character of Lake Torrens

itself, which Captain Frome thought might more properly be called

a desert. This, it will be observed, is with reference to its south-east

extremity--a point I never visited, and which I only saw once from

Mount Serle; a point, too, which from the view I then had of it,

distant although it was, even at that time seemed to me to be

"apparently dry," and is marked as such in Arrowsmith's chart,

published from the sketch alluded to.

[Note 30: This has been done by Arrowsmith in the map which accompanies

these volumes;--to which Mr. Arrowsmith has also added Captain Frome's

route from the original tracings.]

There is, however, a still greater, and more singular difference alluded

to in Captain Frome's report, which it is necessary to remark; I mean

that of the elevation of the country. On the west side of Flinders range,

for 200 miles that I traced the course of Lake Torrens, it was, as I have

observed, girded in its whole course by a steep ridge, like a sea-shore,

from which you descended into a basin, certainly not above the level of

the sea, possibly even below it (I had no instruments with me to enable

me to ascertain this,) the whole bed consisted of mud and water, and I

found it impossible to advance far into it from its boggy nature. On the

east side of Flinders range, Captain Frome found the lake a desert, 300

feet above the level of the sea, [Note 31: By altitude deduced from the

temperature of boiling water.] and consisting of "loose and drifting

sand," and "low sandy ridges, very scantily clothed with stunted scrub on

their summits." Now, by referring to Captain Frome's chart and report, it

appears that the place thus described was nearly thirty miles south of

Mount Serle, and consequently twenty miles south of that part of the bed

of Lake Torrens which I had seen from that hill. It is further evident,

that Captain Frome had not reached the basin of Lake Torrens, and I

cannot help thinking, that if he had gone further to the north-east, he

would have come to nearly the same level that I had been at on the

western side of the hills. There are several reasons for arriving at this

conclusion. First, the manner in which the drainage is thrown off from

the east side of Flinders range, and the direction which the watercourses

take to the north-east or north; secondly, because an apparent connection

was traceable in the course of the lake, from the heights in Flinders

range, nearly all the way round it; thirdly, because the loose sands and

low sandy ridges crowned with scrub, described by Captain Frome, were

very similar to what I met with near Lake Torrens in the west side,

before I reached its basin.

After the Northern Expedition had been compelled to return south, (being

unable to cross Lake Torrens,) the peninsula of Port Lincoln was

examined, and traversed completely round, in all the three sides of the

triangle formed by its east and west coasts, and a line from Mount Arden

to Streaky Bay. A road overland from Mount Arden was forced through the

scrub for a dray; but the country travelled through was of so

inhospitable a character as to hold out no prospect of its being

generally available for overland communication. One unfortunate

individual has since made an attempt to take over a few head of cattle by

this route, but was unable to accomplish it, and miserably perished with

his whole party from want of water. [Note 32: Vide note to page 154,

Vol. I. (Note 11)]

On the northern side of the triangle I have alluded to, or on the line

between Mount Arden and Streaky Bay, a singularly high and barren range,

named the Gawler Range after His Excellency the Governor, was found

consisting of porphoritic granite, extending nearly all the way across,

and then stretching out to the north-west in lofty rugged outline as far

as the eye could reach; the most remarkable fact connected with this

range, was the arid and sterile character of the country in which it was

situated, as well as of the range itself, which consisted entirely of

rugged barren rocks, without timber or vegetation. There was not a stream

or a watercourse of any kind emanating from it; we could find neither

spring nor permanent fresh water, and the only supply we procured for

ourselves was from the deposits left by very recent rains, and which in a

few days more, would have been quite dried up. The soil was in many

places saline, and wherever water had lodged in any quantity (as in lakes

of which there were several) it was quite salt.

[Note 33: A small exploring party, under a Mr. Darke, was sent from Port

Lincoln in August, 1844, but after getting as far as the Gawler Range were

compelled by the inhospitable nature of the country to return. The

unfortunate leader was murdered by the natives on his route homewards.]

Continuing the line of coast to the westward, the expedition passed

through the most wretched and desolate country imaginable, consisting

almost entirely of a table-land, or of undulating ridges, covered for the

most part with dense scrubs, and almost wholly without either grass or

water. The general elevation of this country was from three to five

hundred feet, and all of the tertiary deposit, with primary rocks

protruding at intervals.

The first permanent fresh water met with on the surface was a small

fresh-water lake, beyond the parallel of 123 degrees E.; but from Mount

Arden to that point, a distance of fully 800 miles in a direct line, none

whatever was found on the surface (if I except a solitary small spring

sunk in the rock at Streaky Bay). During the whole of this vast distance,

not a watercourse, not a hollow of any kind was crossed; the only water

to be obtained was by digging close to the sea-shore, or the sand-hills

of the coast, and even by that means it frequently could not be procured

for distances of 150 to 160 miles together. With the exception of the

Gawler Range, which lies between Streaky Bay and Mount Arden, this dreary

waste was one almost uniform table-land of fossil formation, with an

elevation of from three to five hundred feet, covered for the most part

by dense impenetrable scrubs, and varied only on its surface by

occasional sandy or rocky undulations.

What then can be the nature of that mysterious interior, bounded as it is

by a table-land without river or lakes, without watercourses or drainage

of any kind, for so vast a distance? Can it be that the whole is one

immense interminable desert, or an alternation of deserts and shallow

salt lakes like Lake Torrens? Conjecture is set at defiance by the

impenetrable arrangements of nature; where, the more we pry into her

secrets, the more bewildered and uncertain become all our speculations.

It has been a common and a popular theory to imagine the existence of an

inland sea, and this theory has been strengthened and confirmed by the

opinion of so talented, so experienced, and so enterprising a traveller

as my friend Captain Sturt, in its favour. That gentleman, with the noble

and disinterested enthusiasm by which he has ever been characterised, has

once more sacrificed the pleasure and quiet of domestic happiness, at the

shrine of enterprise and science. With the ardour of youth, and the

perseverance and judgment of riper years, he is even now traversing the

trackless wilds, and seeking to lift up that veil which has hitherto hung

over their recesses. May he be successful to the utmost of his wishes,

and may he again rejoin in health and safety his many friends, to forget

in their approbation and admiration the toils he has encountered, and to

enjoy the rewards and laurels which will have been so hardly earned, and

so well deserved.

It was in August, 1844, that Captain Sturt set out upon his arduous

undertaking, with a numerous and well equipped party, and having

provisions calculated to last them for eighteen months. I had the

pleasure of accompanying the expedition as far as the Rufus (about 240

miles from Adelaide), to render what assistance I could, in passing up,

on friendly terms among the more distant natives of the Murray. Since my

return, Captain Sturt has been twice communicated with, and twice heard

from, up to the time I left the Colony, on the 21st December, 1844. The

last official communication addressed to the Colonial Government will be

found in Chapter IX. of Notes on the Aborigines. The following is a copy

of a private letter to John Morphett, Esq M.C., and published in the

Adelaide Observer of the 9th November, 1844:--

"14th October, 1844.

"I left Lake Victoria, as I told you in a former letter, on the 18th of

September, and again cut across the country to the Murray. As we

travelled along we saw numerous tracks of wild cattle leading from the

marshes to the river, and we encamped at the junction of the river and a

lagoon (one of the most beautiful spots you ever saw), just where these

tracks were most numerous. In the night therefore we were surrounded by

lowing herds, coming to the green pastures of which we had taken

possession. In the morning I sent Messrs. Poole and Brown, with Flood my

stockman, and Mark to drive in some bullocks, as I was anxious to secure

one or two workers. The brush however was too thick, and in galloping

through it after a bull, Flood's carbine exploded, and blew off three of

the fingers of his right hand. This accident obliged me to remain

stationary for two days, notwithstanding my anxiety to get up to the

lagoon at Williorara, to ascertain the truth or otherwise of the report I

had heard of the massacre of a party of overlanders there.

"On the 23rd I reached the junction of the Ana branch with the Murray,

discovered by Eyre, and then turned northwards. Running this Ana branch

up, I crossed it where the water ceased, and went to the Darling,

striking it about fifteen miles above its junction with the Murray. The

unlooked-for course of the Darling however kept me longer on its banks

than I had anticipated; but you can form no idea of the luxuriant verdure

of its flats. They far surpass those of the Murray, both in quantity and

quality of soil; and extended for many miles at a stretch along the river

side. We have run up it at a very favourable season, and seen the

commencement of its floods; for, two days after we reached it, and found

it with scarcely any water in its bed, we observed a fresh in it,

indicated by a stronger current. The next morning to our surprise the

waters were half-bank high. They had risen six feet during the night, and

were carrying everything before them; now they are full sixteen feet

above their level, and a most beautiful river it is. Over this said

mysterious river, as Major Mitchell calls it, the trees drooped like

willows, or grew in dark clusters at each turn; the sloping banks were of

a vivid green, the flats lightly timbered, and the aspect of the whole

neighbourhood cheerful.

"I had hoped that we should have been able to approach the ranges pretty

closely along the line of Laidley's Ponds; but fancy our disappointment

when we arrived on its banks to find that instead of a mountain stream it

was a paltry creek, connecting a lake, now dry, with the river, and that

its banks were quite bare. I was therefore obliged to fall back upon the

Darling, and have been unable to stir for the last four days by reason of

heavy rain.

"On Tuesday I despatched Mr. Poole to the ranges, which are forty miles

distant from us, to ascertain if there is water or feed under them; but I

have no hope of good tidings, and believe I shall ultimately be obliged

to establish myself on the Darling.

"You will be glad to hear, and so ought every body, that we have

maintained a most satisfactory intercourse with the natives. The report

we had heard referred to Major Mitchell's affray with them, and you will

not be surprised at their reverting to it, when I tell you that several

old men immediately recognized me as having gone down the Murray in a

boat, although they could have seen me for an hour or two only, and

fifteen years have now elapsed since I went down the river. I suppose we

misunderstood the story; but most assuredly I fully anticipated we

should, sooner or later, come on some dreadful acene or other, and I came

up fully prepared to act; but the natives have been exceedingly quiet,

nor have we seen a weapon in the hands of any of them: in truth I have

been quite astonished at the change in the blacks; for instead of

collecting in a body, they have visited us with their wives and children,

and have behaved in the most quiet manner. We may attribute this in part

to our own treatment of the natives, and in part to Eyre's influence over

them, which is very extensive, and has been productive of great good. The

account the natives give of the distant interior is very discouraging. It

is nothing more however than what I expected. They say that beyond the

hills it is all sand and rocks; that there is neither grass or water, or

wood; and that it is awfully hot. This last feature appears to terrify

them. They say that they are obliged to take wood to the hills for fire,

and that they clamber up the rocks on the hills; that when there is water

there, it is in deep holes from which they are obliged to sponge it up

and squeeze it out to drink. I do not in truth think that any of the

natives have been beyond the hills, and that the country is perfectly

impracticable.

"We are now not more than two hundred and fifteen feet above the sea,

with a declining country to the north-west, and the general dip of the

continent to the south-west. What is the natural inference where there is

not a single river emptying itself upon the coast, but that there is an

internal basin? Such a country can only be penetrated by cool calculation

and determined perseverance. I have sat down before it as a besieger

before a fortress, to make my approaches with the same systematic

regularity. I must cut hay and send forage and water in advance, as far

as I can. I have the means of taking sixteen days' water and feed for two

horses and three men; and if I can throw my supplies one hundred miles in

advance, I shall be able to go two hundred miles more beyond that point,

at the rate of thirty miles a-day, one of us walking whilst two rode.

Surely at such a distance some new feature will open to reward our

efforts! My own opinion is, that an inland sea will bring us up ere

long--then how shall we get the boat upon it? 'Why,' you will say,

'necessity is the mother of invention.' You will find some means or

other, no doubt; and so we will. However, under any circumstances, depend

upon it I will either lift up or tear down the curtain which hides the

interior from us, so look out for the next accounts from me as of the

most interesting kind, as solving this great problem, or shutting the

door to discovery from this side the continent for ever.

"P.S. Poole has just returned from the ranges. I have not time to write

over again. He says that there are high ranges to N. and N.W. and

water,--a sea extending along the horizon from S.W. by W., to ten E. of

N. in which there are a number of islands and lofty ranges as far as the

eye can reach. What is all this? Are we to be prosperous? I hope so; and

I am sure you do. To-morrow we start for the ranges, and then for the

waters,--the strange waters on which boat never swam, and over which flag

never floated. But both shall are long. We have the heart of the interior

laid open to us, and shall be off with a flowing sheet in a few days.

Poole says that the sea was a deep blue, and that in the midst of it

there was a conical island of great height. When will you hear from me

again?"

From this communication, Captain Sturt appears to be sanguine of having

realized the long hoped for sea, and at last of having found a key to the

centre of the continent. Most sincerely do I hope that this may be the

case, and that the next accounts may more than confirm such satisfactory

intelligence.

My own impressions were always decidedly opposed to the idea of an inland

sea, nor have I changed them in the least, now that circumstances

amounting almost to proof, seem to favour that opinion.

Entertaining, as I do, the highest respect for the opinion of one so

every way capable of forming a correct judgment as Captain Sturt, it is

with considerable diffidence that I advance any conjectures in opposition

to his, and especially so, as I may be thought presumptuous in doing so

in the face of the accounts received. Until these accounts, however, are

further confirmed, the question still remains as it was; and it may

perhaps not be out of place to allude to some of the reasons which have

led me to form an opinion somewhat different from that entertained by

Captain Sturt, and which I have been compelled to arrive at after a long

personal experience, a closer approach to the interior, and a more

extensive personal examination of the continent, than any other traveller

has hitherto made. In the course of that experience, I have never met

with the slightest circumstance to lead me to imagine that there should

be an inland sea, still less a deep navigable one, and having an outer

communication with the ocean. I can readily suppose, and, in fact, I do

so believe, that a considerable portion of the interior consists of the

beds or basins of salt lakes or swamps, as Lake Torrens, and some of

which might be of great extent. I think, also, that these alternate, with

sandy deserts, and that probably at intervals, there are many isolated

ranges, like the Gawler range, and which, perhaps, even in some places

may form a connection of links across the continent, could any favourable

point be obtained for commencing the examination.

It is very possible that among these ranges, intervals of a better or

even of a rich and fertile country might be met with.

The suggestion thrown out by Captain Sturt a few years ago, that

Australia might formerly have been an Archipelago of islands, appears to

me to have been a happy idea, and to afford the most rational and

satisfactory way of accounting for many of the peculiarities observable

upon its surface or in its structure. That it has only recently (compared

with other countries) obtained its present elevation, is often forcibly

impressed upon the traveller, by the appearance of the country he is

traversing, but no where have I found this to be the case in a greater

degree, than whilst exploring that part of it, north of Spencer's Gulf,

where a great portion of the low lands intervening, between the base of

Flinders range, and the bed of Lake Torrens, presents the appearance of a

succession of rounded undulations of sand or pebbles washed perfectly

smooth and even, looking like waves of the sea, and seeming as if they

had not been very many centuries deserted by the element that had moulded

them into their present form. In this singular district I found scattered

at intervals throughout the whole area inclosed by, but south of, Lake

Torrens, many steep-sided fragments of a table land, [Note 34 at end of

para.] which had evidently been washed to pieces by the violent action of

water, and which appeared to have been originally, of nearly the same

general elevation as the table lands to the westward. It seems to me,

that these table lands have formerly been the bed of the ocean, and this

opinion is fully borne out by the many marine remains, fossil shells, and

banks of oyster shells, [Note 35 at end of para.] which are frequently to

be met with embedded in them. What are now the ranges of the continent

would therefore formerly have been but rocks or islands, and if this

supposition be true, there are still hopes that some other islands are

scattered over the immense space occupied by Australia, and which may be

of as rich and fertile a character, as any that are yet known. Thus if

the intervening extent of desert lying between any of the known portions

of Australia, and what may be considered as having been the next island,

can be ascertained and crossed over, new and valuable regions may yet be

offered for the extension of the pastoral interest of our Colonies,

and for the general spread of civilization and improvement.

[Note 34: "An hundred miles above this, I passed a curious feature, called

the "Square Hills" (plate 123 ). I landed my canoe and went ashore, and to

their tops to examine them. Though they appeared to be near the river, I

found it half a day's journey to travel to and from them; they being

several miles from the river. On ascending them I found them to be two or

three hundred feet high, and rising on their sides at an angle of 45 deg.

and on their tops, in some places for half a mile in length perfectly

level, with a green turf, and corresponding exactly with the tabular

hills spoken of above the Mandans, in plate 39, vol. 1. I therein said

that I should visit these hills on my way down the river; and I am fully

convinced from close examination, that they are a part of the same

original superstratum, which I therein described, though 7 or 800 miles

separated from them. They agree exactly in character, and also in the

materials of which they are composed; and I believe that some

unaccountable gorge of waters has swept away the intervening earth,

leaving these solitary and isolated, though incontrovertible evidences,

that the summit level of all this great valley, has at one time been

where the level surface of these hills now is, two or three hundred feet

above what is now denominated the summit level."--Catlin's American

Indians, Vol. 2. pp. 11 and 12.]

[Note 35: Similar banks of fossil shells and oyster beds, are found in the

Arkansas.--Vide Catlin, Vol. 2. p. 85. At page 86, Mr. Catlin describes

banks of gypsum and salt, extending through a considerable extent of

country, and which apparently was of a very similar formation to some of

the localities I was in to the north of Spencer's Gulf.]

I have already observed that several circumstances connected with my own

personal experience have led me to the conclusion, that there is no

inland sea now occupying the centre of New Holland; it will be sufficient

to name three of the most important of these.

First. I may mention the hot winds which in South Australia, or opposite

the centre of the continent, always blow from the north, to those, who

have experienced the oppressive and scorching influence of these winds,

which can only be compared to the fiery and withering blasts from a

heated furnace, I need hardly point out that there is little probability

that such winds can have been wafted over a large expanse of water.

Secondly. I may state that between the Darling river and the head of the

Great Australian Bight, I have at various points come into friendly

communication with the Aborigines inhabiting the outskirts of the

interior, and from them I have invariably learnt that they know of no

large body of water inland, fresh or salt; that there were neither trees

nor ranges, but that all was an arid waste so far as they were accustomed

to travel.

Thirdly. I infer the non-existence of an inland sea, from the coincidence

observable in the physical appearance, customs, character, and pursuits

of the Aborigines at opposite points of the continent, whilst no such

coincidence exists along the intervening lines of coast connecting those

points.

With respect to the first consideration, it is unnecessary to add further

remark; as regards the second, I may state, that although I may sometimes

not have met with natives at those precise spots which might have been

best suited for making inquiry, or although I may sometimes have had a

difficulty in explaining myself to, or in understanding a people whose

language I did not comprehend; yet such has not always been the case, and

on many occasions I have had intercourse with natives at favourable

positions, and have been able, quite intelligibly, to carry on any

inquiries. One of these opportunities occurred in the very neighbourhood

of the hill from which Mr. Poole is said to have seen the inland sea, as

described in Captain Sturt's despatch.

There are several reasons for supposing Mr. Poole to have been deceived

in forming an opinion of the objects which he saw before him from that

elevation: first, I know, from experience, the extraordinary and

deceptive appearances that are produced in such a country as Mr. Poole

was in, by mirage and refration combined. I have often myself been very

similarly deceived by the semblance of hills, islands, and water, where

none such existed in reality. Secondly, in December 1843, I was within

twenty-five miles of the very spot from which Mr. Poole thought he looked

upon a sea, and I was then accompanied by natives, and able, by means of

an interpreter, to communicate with those who were acquainted with the

country to the north-west. My inquiries upon this point were particular;

but they knew of no sea. They asserted that there was mud out in that

direction, and that a party would be unable to travel; from which I

inferred either that some branch of the Darling spread out its waters

there in time of flood, or that Lake Torrens itself was stretching out in

the direction indicated. Thirdly, I hold it physically impossible that a

sea can exist in the place assigned to it, in as much as during an

expedition, undertaken by the Surveyor-general of the Colony, in

September, 1843, that officer had attained a position which would place

himself and Mr. Poole at two opposite points, upon nearly the same

parallel of latitude; but about 130 miles of longitude apart, in a low

level country, and in which, therefore, the ranges of their respective

vision from elevations would cross each other, and if there was a sea,

Captain Frome must have seen it as well as Mr. Poole; again, I myself had

an extensive and distant view to the north-east and east from Mount

Hopeless, a low hill, about ninety miles further north than Captain

Frome's position, but a little more east; yet there was nothing like a

sea to be seen from thence, the dry and glazed-looking bed of Lake

Torrens alone interrupting the monotony of the desert.

There are still some few points connected with our knowledge of the

outskirts of the interior which leave great room for speculation, and

might lead to the opinion that it is not altogether a low or a desert

region. The facts which have more immediately come under my own

observation, are connected, first with the presence of birds belonging to

a higher and better country in the midst of a desert region, and

secondly, with the line of route taken by the Aborigines in spreading

over the continent, as deduced from a coincidence or dissimilarity of the

manners, customs, or languages of tribes remotely apart from one another.

With respect to the presence of birds in a region such as they do not

usually frequent, I may state that at Mount Arden, near the head of

Spencer's Gulf, swans were seen taking their flight high in the air, to

the north, as if making for some river or lake they were accustomed to

feed at. At the Frome river, where it spreads into the plains to the

north of Flinders range; four white cockatoos were found flying about

among the trees, although those birds had not been met with for 200 miles

before I attained that point. [Note 36: Vide Vol. I. July 4, Aug 31,

and March 19.] And about longitude 128 degrees 20 minutes E., when

crossing over towards King George's Sound, large parrots were found coming

from the north-east, to feed upon the berries of a shrub growing on the

sea coast, although no parrots were seen for two or three hundred

miles on either side, either to the east or to the west, they

must, therefore, have come from the interior. Now the parrot is a bird

that often frequents a mountainous country, and always inhabits one

having timber of a better description and larger growth than the

miserable shrubs met with along the coast; it is a bird too that always

lives within reach of permanent fresh-water, as rivers, lakes, creeks,

pools, etc. Can there then be such in the interior, with so barren and

arid a region, bounding it? and how are we to commence an examination

with so many difficulties and embarrassments attending the very outset?

The second series of facts which have attracted my attention, relate to

the Aborigines. It is a well known circumstance that the dialects,

customs, and pursuits in use among them in the various parts of the

continent, differ very much from each other in some particulars, and yet

that there is such a general similarity in the aggregate as to leave no

room to doubt that all the Aborigines of Australia have had one common

origin, and are in reality one and the same race. If this then is really

the case, they must formerly have spread over the continent from one

first point, and this brings me to the

Third reason I have mentioned as being one, from which I infer, that

there is not an inland sea, viz., the coincidence observable in the

physical appearance, customs, character, and pursuits of the Aborigines,

at opposite points of the continent, whilst no such coincidence exists

along the intervening lines of coast connecting those two points, and

which naturally follows from the circumstances connected with the present

location of the various tribes in which this is observable, and with the

route which they must have taken to arrive at the places they now occupy

on the continent. [Note 37 at end of para.] I believe that the idea of

attempting to deduce the character of the continent, and the most probable

line for crossing it, from the circumstances and habits of the natives

inhabiting the coast line is quite a novel one. It appears to me, however,

to be worth consideration; and if it is true that the natives have all one

common origin, and have spread over the continent from one first point,

I think it may reasonably be inferred that there is a practicable route

across the centre of New Holland, and that this line lies between the

125th and 135th degrees of east longitude. It further appears that there

must still be a second route, other than the coast line, in the direction

between Port Jackson in New South Wales and the south-east corner of the

Gulf of Carpentaria on the north coast.

[Note 37: Vide Chapter VII. of Notes on the Aborigines, where this subject

will be found fully discussed, and the reasons given for supposing the

conclusions here assumed.]

If then we have reasonable grounds for believing that such lines of route

actually do exist, it becomes a matter of much interest and importance to

determine the most favourable point from which to explore them. My own

experience has pointed out the dreadful nature of the southern coast, and

the very great and almost insuperable difficulties that beset the

traveller at the very commencement--in his efforts even to establish a

single depot from which to enter upon his researches. The northern coast

may, probably, afford greater facilities, but in a tropical climate,

where the heat and other circumstances render ordinary difficulties and

impediments still more embarrassing and dangerous, it is a matter of deep

moment that the expedition for interior exploration should commence at

the right point, and this can only be ascertained by a previous

examination.

I have myself always been most anxious to attempt to cross from Moreton

Bay on the N. E. coast to Port Essington on the N. W. I believe that this

journey is quite practicable, and I have no doubt that if judiciously

conducted, and the country to the south of the line of route always

examined, as far as that could be done, it would completely develop, in

connection with what is already known, the character and formation of

Australia, and would at once point out the most proper place from which

subsequent expeditions ought to start in order finally to accomplish the

passage across its interior--from the north to the south.

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA.

CHAPTER I.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS--UNJUST OPINIONS GENERALLY ENTERTAINED OF THE

CHARACTER OF THE NATIVE--DIFFICULTIES AND DISADVANTAGES HE LABOURS UNDER

IN HIS RELATIONS WITH EUROPEANS--AGGRESSIONS AND INJURIES ON THE PART OF

THE LATTER IN GREAT DEGREE EXTENUATE HIS CRIMES.

Upon bringing to a close the narrative of an Expedition of Discovery in

Australia, during the progress of which an extensive portion of the

previously unknown parts of that continent were explored, I have thought

it might not be uninteresting to introduce a few pages on the subject of

the Aborigines of the country.

It would afford me much gratification to see an interest excited on their

behalf proportioned to the claims of a people who have hitherto been

misjudged or misrepresented.

For the last twelve years I have been personally resident in one or other

of the Australian Colonies, and have always been in frequent intercourse

with the aboriginal tribes that were near, rarely being without some of

them constantly with me as domestics.

To the advantages of private opportunities of acquiring a knowledge of

their character were added, latterly, the facilities afforded by my

holding a public appointment in South Australia, in the midst of a

district more densely populated by natives than any in that Colony, where

no settler had ventured to locate, and where, prior to my arrival in

October 1841, frightful scenes of bloodshed, rapine, and hostility

between the natives and parties coming overland with stock, had been of

frequent and very recent occurrence.

As Resident Magistrate of the Murray District, I may almost say, that for

the last three years I have lived with the natives. My duties have

frequently taken me to very great distances up the Murray or the Darling

rivers, when I was generally accompanied only by a single European, or at

most two, and where, if attacked, there was no possibility of my

receiving any human aid. I have gone almost alone among hordes of those

fierce and blood-thirsty savages, as they were then considered, and have

stood singly amongst them in the remote and trackless wilds, when

hundreds were congregated around, without ever receiving the least injury

or insult.

In my first visits to the more distant tribes I found them shy, alarmed,

and suspicious, but soon learning that I had no wish to injure them, they

met me with readiness and confidence. My wishes became their law; they

conceded points to me that they would not have done to their own people,

and on many occasions cheerfully underwent hunger, thirst, and fatigue to

serve me.

Former habits and prejudices in some respects gave way to the influence I

acquired. Tribes that never met or heard of one another before were

brought to mingle in friendly intercourse. Single individuals traversed

over immense distances and through many intervening tribes, which

formerly they never could have attempted to pass, and in accomplishing

this the white man's name alone was the talisman that proved their

safe-guard and protection.

During the whole of the three years I was Resident at Moorunde, not a

single case of serious injury or aggression ever took place on the part

of the natives against the Europeans; and a district, once considered the

wildest and most dangerous, was, when I left it in November 1844, looked

upon as one of the most peaceable and orderly in the province.

Independently of my own personal experience, on the subject of the

Aborigines, I have much pleasure in acknowledging the obligations I am

under to M. Moorhouse, Esq. Protector of Aborigines in Adelaide, for his

valuable assistance, in comparing and discussing the results of our

respective observations, on matters connected with the natives, and for

the obliging manner in which he has furnished me with many of his own

important and well-arranged notes on various points of interest in their

history.

By this aid, I am enabled, in the following pages, to combine my own

observations and experience with those of Mr. Moorhouse, especially on

points connected with the Adelaide Tribes. In some cases, extracts from

Mr. Moorhouse's notes, will be copied in his own words, but in most I

found an alteration or rearrangement to be indispensable to enable me to

connect and amplify the subjects: I wish it to be particularly

understood, however, that with any deductions, inferences, remarks, or

suggestions, that may incidentally be introduced, Mr. Moorhouse is

totally unconnected, that gentleman's notes refer exclusively to abstract

matters of fact, relating to the habits, customs, or peculiarities of the

people treated of, and are generally confined to the Adelaide Tribes.

[Note 38: Some few of these notes were printed in the Colony, in a

detached form, as Reports to the Colonial Government, or in the

Vocabularies of the Missionaries, and since my return to England I find

others have been published in papers, ordered to be printed by the House

of Commons, in August 1844. From the necessity, however, of altering in

some measure the phraseology, to combine Mr. Moorhouse's remarks with my

own, and to preserve a uniformity in the descriptions, it has not been

practicable or desirable in all cases, to separate or distinguish by

inverted commas, those observations which I have adopted. I have,

therefore, preferred making a general acknowledgment of the use I have

made of the notes that were supplied to me by Mr. Moorhouse.]

In the descriptions given in the following pages, although there may

occasionally be introduced, accounts of the habits, manners, or customs

of some of the tribes inhabiting different parts of Australia I have

visited, yet there are others which are exclusively peculiar to the

natives of South Australia. I wish it, therefore, to be understood, that

unless mention is made of other tribes, or other parts of the continent,

the details given are intended to apply to that province generally, and

particularly to the tribes in it, belonging to the districts of Adelaide

and the Murray river.

As far as has yet been ascertained, the whole of the aboriginal

inhabitants of this continent, scattered as they are over an immense

extent of country, bear so striking a resemblance in physical appearance

and structure to each other; and their general habits, customs, and

pursuits, are also so very similar, though modified in some respects by

local circumstances or climate, that little doubt can be entertained that

all have originally sprung from the same stock. The principal points of

difference, observable between various tribes, appear to consist chiefly

in some of their ceremonial observances, and in the variations of dialect

in the language they speak; the latter are, indeed, frequently so great,

that even to a person thoroughly acquainted with any one dialect, there

is not the slightest clue by which he can understand what is said by a

tribe speaking a different one.

The only account I have yet met with, which professed to give any

particular description of the Aborigines of New Holland, is that

contained in the able papers upon this subject, by Captain Grey, in the

second volume of his travels. When it is considered, that the material

for that purpose was collected by the author, during a few months

interval between his two expeditions, which he spent at Swan River, and a

short time subsequently passed at King George's Sound, whilst holding the

appointment of Government Resident there; it is perfectly surprising that

the amount of information amassed should be so great, and so generally

correct, on subjects where so many mistakes are liable to be made, in all

first inquiries, when we are ignorant of the character and habits of the

people of whom information is to be sought, and unacquainted with the

language they speak.

The subject, however, upon a portion of which Captain Grey so

successfully entered, is very extensive, and one which no single

individual, except by the devotion of a life-time, could hope fully to

discuss. The Continent of Australia is so vast, and the dialects,

customs, and ceremonies of its inhabitants so varied in detail, though so

similar in general outline and character, that it will require the lapse

of years, and the labours of many individuals, to detect and exhibit the

links which form the chain of connection in the habits and history of

tribes so remotely separated; and it will be long before any one can

attempt to give to the world a complete and well-drawn outline of the

whole.

It is not therefore to satisfy curiosity, or to interrupt the course of

inquiry, that I enter upon the present work; I neither profess, nor could

I attempt to give a full or matured account of the Aborigines of New

Holland. Captain Grey's descriptions on this subject are limited to the

races of South-western, as mine are principally directed to those of

Southern Australia, with occasionally some remarks or anecdotes relating

to tribes in other parts of the Continent with whom I have come in

contact.

The character of the Australian native has been so constantly

misrepresented and traduced, that by the world at large he is looked upon

as the lowest and most degraded of the human species, and is generally

considered as ranking but little above the members of the brute creation.

Savages have always many vices, but I do not think that these are worse

in the New Hollanders, than in many other aboriginal races. It is said,

indeed, that the Australian is an irreclaimable, unteachable being; that

he is cruel, blood-thirsty, revengeful, and treacherous; and in support

of such assertions, references are made to the total failure of all

missionary and scholastic efforts hitherto made on his behalf, and to

many deeds of violence or aggression committed by him upon the settler.

[Note 39: I cannot adduce a stronger proof in support of the position I

assume, in favour of the natives, than by quoting the clear and just

conclusions at which the Right Honourable Lord Stanley, the present

Secretary of State for the Colonies, arrived, when considering the case of

some collisions with the natives on the Ovens River, and after a full

consideration of the various circumstances connected with the occurrence.

In a despatch to Governor Sir G. Gipps, dated 5th October, 1841, Lord

Stanley says, "Contrasting the accounts of the Aborigines given by Mr.

Docker with those given by Mr. Mackay, and the different terms on which

those gentlemen appear to be with them in the same vicinity, I cannot

divest myself of the apprehension that the fault in this case lies with

the colonists rather than with the natives. It was natural, that conduct

so harsh and intemperate as that of the Messrs. Mackay should be signally

visited on them, and probably also on wholly unoffending persons, by a

race of uninstructed and ignorant savages. At the same time the case of

Mr. Docker affords a most satisfactory instance of natives entering into

permanent service with white men, and working, as they appear to do,

steadily for wages."]

With respect to the first point, I consider that an intimate knowledge of

the peculiar habits, laws, and traditions, by which this people are

governed, is absolutely necessary, before any just opinion can be formed

as to how far the means hitherto pursued, have been suitable, or adapted

to counteract the influence of custom and the force of prejudice. Until

this knowledge is attained, we have no right to brand them as either

irreclaimable, or unteachable. My own impression, after long experience,

and an attentive consideration of the subject, is, that in the present

anomalous state of our relations with the Aborigines, our measures are

neither comprehensive enough for, nor is our system sufficiently adapted

to, the singular circumstances they are in, to enable us successfully to

contend with the difficulties and impediments in the way of their rising

in the scale of civilization.

Upon the second point it is also necessary to make many inquiries before

we arrive at our conclusions; and I have no doubt, if this be done with

calmness, and without prejudice, it will be generally found that there

are many extenuating circumstances which may be brought to modify our

judgment. I am anxious, if possible, to place a few of these before the

public, in the hope, that by lessening in some degree the unfavourable

opinion heretofore entertained of the Aborigines, they may be considered

for the future as more deserving our sympathy and benevolence.

Without assuming for the native a freedom from vice, or in any way

attempting to palliate the many brutalising habits that pollute his

character, I would still contend that, if stained with the excesses of

unrestrained passions, he is still sometimes sensible to the better

emotions of humanity. Many of the worst traits in his character are the

result of necessity, or the force of custom--the better ones are

implanted in him as a part of his nature. With capabilities for

receiving, and an aptness for acquiring instruction, I believe he has

also the capacity for appreciating the rational enjoyments of life.

Even in his present low and debased condition, and viewed under every

disadvantages, I do not imagine that his vices would usually be found

greater, or his passions more malignant than those of a very large

proportion of men ordinarily denominated civilised. On the contrary, I

believe were Europeans placed under the same circumstances, equally

wronged, and equally shut out from redress, they would not exhibit half

the moderation or forbearance that these poor untutored children of

impulse have invariably shewn.

It is true that occasionally many crimes have been committed by them, and

robberies and murders have too often occurred; but who can tell what were

the provocations which led to, what the feelings which impelled such

deeds? Neither have they been the only or the first aggressors, nor has

their race escaped unscathed in the contest. Could blood answer blood,

perhaps for every drop of European's shed by natives, a torrent of their,

by European hands, would crimson the earth.

[Note 40: "The whites were generally the aggressors. He had been informed

that a petition had been presented to the Governor, containing a list of

nineteen murders committed by the blacks. He could, if it were necessary,

make out a list of five hundred blacks who had been slaughtered by the

whites, and that within a short time."--Extract from speech of Mr.

Threlkeld to the Auxiliary Aborigines' Protection Society in New South

Wales. Abstract of a "Return of the number of homicides committed

respectively by blacks and whites, within the limits of the northwestern

district (of Port Phillip), since its first occupation by settlers--"

"Total number of white people killed by Aborigines 8

"Total number of Aborigines killed by white people 43."

This is only in one district, and only embraces such cases as came to the

knowledge of Mr. Protector Parker. For particulars vide Papers on

Aborigines of Australian Colonies, printed for the House of Commons,

August 1844, p. 318.]

Let us now inquire a little, upon whose side right and justice are

arrayed in palliation (if any such there can be) of deeds of violence or

aggression on the part of either.

It is an undeniable fact, that wherever European colonies have been

established in Australia, the native races in that neighbourhood are

rapidly decreasing, and already in some of the elder settlements, have

totally disappeared. It is equally indisputable that the presence of the

white man has been the sole agent in producing so lamentable an effect;

that the evil is still going on, increased in a ratio proportioned to the

number of new settlements formed, or the rapidity with which the settlers

overrun new districts. The natural, the inevitable, but the no less

melancholy result must be, that in the course of a few years more, if

nothing be done to check it, the whole of the aboriginal tribes of

Australia will be swept away from the face of the earth. A people who, by

their numbers, have spread around the whole of this immense continent,

and have probably penetrated into and occupied its inmost recesses, will

become quite extinct, their name forgotten, their very existence but a

record of history.

It is a popular, but an unfair and unwarranted assumption, that these

consequences are the result of the natural course of events; that they

are ordained by Providence, unavoidable, and not to be impeded. Let us at

least ascertain how far they are chargeable upon ourselves.

Without entering upon the abstract question concerning the right of one

race of people to wrest from another their possessions, simply because

they happen to be more powerful than the original inhabitants, or because

they imagine that they can, by their superior skill or acquirements,

enable the soil to support a denser population, I think it will be

conceded by every candid and right-thinking mind, that no one can justly

take that which is not his own, without giving some equivalent in return,

or deprive a people of their ordinary means of support, and not provide

them with any other instead. Yet such is exactly the position we are in

with regard to the inhabitants of Australia.

[Note 41: "The invasion of those ancient rights (of the natives) by

survey and land appropriations of any kind, is justifiable only on the

ground, that we should at the same time reserve for the natives an AMPLE

SUFFICIENCY for THEIR PRESENT and future use and comfort, under the new

style of things into which they are thrown; a state in which we hope they

will be led to live in greater comfort, on a small space, than

they enjoyed before it occurred, on their extensive original

possessions."--Reply of His Excellency Colonel Gawler, to the gentlemen

who objected to sections of land being appropriated for the natives,

before the public were allowed to select.]

Without laying claim to this country by right of conquest, without

pleading even the mockery of cession, or the cheatery of sale, we have

unhesitatingly entered upon, occupied, and disposed of its lands,

spreading forth a new population over its surface, and driving before us

the original inhabitants.

To sanction this aggression, we have not, in the abstract, the slightest

shadow of either right or justice--we have not even the extenuation of

endeavouring to compensate those we have injured, or the merit of

attempting to mitigate the sufferings our presence inflicts.

It is often argued, that we merely have taken what the natives did not

require, or were making no use of; that we have no wish to interfere with

them if they do not interfere with us, but rather that we are disposed to

treat them with kindness and conciliation, if they are willing to be

friends with us. What, however, are the actual facts of the case; and

what is the position of a tribe of natives, when their country is first

taken possession of by Europeans.

It is true that they do not cultivate the ground; but have they,

therefore, no interest in its productions? Does it not supply grass for

the sustenance of the wild animals upon which in a great measure they are

dependent for their subsistence?--does it not afford roots and vegetables

to appease their hunger?--water to satisfy their thirst, and wood to make

their fire?--or are these necessaries left to them by the white man when

he comes to take possession of their soil? Alas, it is not so! all are in

turn taken away from the original possessors. The game of the wilds that

the European does not destroy for his amusement are driven away by his

flocks and herds. [Note 42 at end of para.] The waters are occupied and

enclosed, and access to them in frequently forbidden. The fields are

fenced in, and the natives are no longerat liberty to dig up roots--the

white man claims the timber, and the very firewood itself is occasion

ally denied to them. Do they pass by the habitation of the intruder, they

are probably chased away or bitten by his dogs, and for this they can

get no redress. [Note 43 at end of para.] Have they dogs of their own,

they are unhesitatingly shot or worried because they are an annoyance to

the domestic animals of the Europeans. Daily and hourly do their wrongs

multiply upon them. The more numerous the white population becomes, and

the more advanced the stage of civilization to which the settlement

progresses, the greater are the hardships that fall to their lot and the

more completely are they cut off from the privileges of their birthright.

All that they have is in succession taken away from them--their

amusements, their enjoyments, their possessions, their freedom--and all

that they receive in return is obloquy, and contempt, and degradation,

and oppression. [Note 44 appears after note 43, below]

[Note 42: "But directly an European settles down in the country, his

constant residence in one spot soon sends the animals away from it, and

although he may in no other way interfere with the natives, the mere

circumstance of his residing there, does the man on whose land he settles

the injury of depriving him of his ordinary means of subsistence."--GREY'S

TRAVELS, vol. ii. p. 298.

"The great question was, were we to give them no equivalent for that which

we had taken from them? Had we deprived them of nothing? Was it

nothing that they were driven from the lands where their fathers

lived, where they were born and which were endeared to them by

associations equally strong with the associations of more civilsed

people? He believed that their affections were as warm as the Europeans."

"Perhaps he obtained his subsistence by fishing, and occupied a slip of

land on the banks of a river or the margin of a lake. Was he to be turned

off as soon as the land was required, without any consideration

whatever?" "Had any proper attempt been made for their civilization? They

had not yet had fair play--they had been courted by the missionaries with

the Bible on the one hand, and had at the sametime been driven away and

destroyed by the stock-keepers on the other. He thought that they might

be reclaimed if the proper course was adopted."--EXTRACTS FROM THE SPEECH

OF SYDNEY STEPHEN, ESQ., AT A MEETING ON BEHALF OF THE ABORIGINES IN

SYDNEY, OCTOBER 19, 1838.

I have myself repeatedly seen the natives driven off private lands in the

vicinity of Adelaide, and their huts burned, even in cold wet weather.

The records of the Police Office will shew that they have been driven off

the Park lands, or those belonging to Government, or at least that they

have been brought up and punished for cutting wood from the trees there.

What are they to do, when there is not a stick or a tree within miles of

Adelaide that they can legally take?]

[Note 43: I have known repeated instances of natives in Adelaide

being bitten severely by savage dogs rushing out at them from the

yards of their owners, as they were peaceably passing along the street. On

the other hand I have known a native imprisoned for throwing his waddy at,

and injuring a pig, which was eating a melon he had laid down for a moment

in the street, and when the pig ought not to have been in the street at

all. In February 1842, a dog belonging to a native was shot by order of

Mr. Gouger, the then Colonial Secretary, and the owner as soon as he

became aware of the circumstance, speared his wife for not taking better

care of it, although she could not possibly have helped the occurrence. If

natives then revenge so severely such apparently trivial offences among

themselves, can we wonder that they should sometimes retaliate upon us

for more aggravated ones.]

[Note 44: The following are extracts from an address to a jury, when

trying some aboriginal natives, by Judge Willis. They at least shew some

of the BLESSINGS the Aborigines experience from being made British

subjects, and placed under British laws:--"I have, on a recent occasion,

stated my opinion, which I still entertain, that the proprietor of a run,

or, in other words, one who holds a lease or license from the Crown to

depasture certain Crown lands, may take all lawful means to prevent either

natives or others from entering or remaining upon it." "The aboriginals of

Van Diemen's Land were strictly commanded, by Governor Arthur's

proclamation of the 15th of April 1828 (a proclamation of which His

Majesty King George the Fourth, through the Right honourable the then

Secretary of State, by a dispatch of the 2nd of February, 1829, under the

circumstances, signified his approval,) "to retire and depart from, and

for no reason, and no pretence, save as therein provided, (viz.

travelling annually to the sea coast in quest of shellfish, under certain

regulations,) to re-enter the settled districts of Van Diemen's Land, or

any portions of land cultivated and occupied by any person whomsoever,

under the authority of Her Majesty's Government, on pain of forcible

expulsion therefrom, and such consequences as might be necessarily

attendant on it, and all magistrates and other persons by them authorized

and deputed, were required to conform themselves to the directions and

instructions of this proclamation, in effecting the retirement and

expulsion of the Aborigines from the settled districts of that

territory."]

What are they to do under such circumstances, or how support a life so

bereft of its wonted supplies? Can we wonder that they should still

remain the same low abject and degraded creatures that they are,

loitering about the white man's house, and cringing, and pandering to the

lowest menial for that food they can no longer procure for themselves? or

that wandering in misery through a country, now no longer their own,

their lives should be curtailed by want, exposure, or disease? If, on the

other hand, upon the first appearance of Europeans, the natives become

alarmed, and retire from their presence, they must give up all the haunts

they had been accustomed to frequent, and must either live in a starving

condition, in the back country, ill supplied with game, and often wanting

water, or they must trespass upon the territory of another tribe, in a

district perhaps little calculated to support an additional population,

even should they be fortunate enough to escape being forced into one

belonging to an enemy.

Under any circumstances, however, they have but little respite from

inconvenience and want. The white man rapidly spreads himself over the

country, and without the power of retiring any further, they are

overtaken, and beset by all the evils from which they had previously

fled.

Such are some of the blessings held out to the savage by civilization,

and they are only some of them. The picture is neither fanciful nor

overdrawn; there is no trait in it that I have not personally witnessed,

or that might not have been enlarged upon; and there are often other

circumstances of greater injury and aggression, which, if dwelt upon,

would have cast a still darker shade upon the prospects and condition of

the native.

Enough has, however, perhaps been said to indicate the degree of injury

our presence unavoidably inflicts. I would hope, also, to point out the

justice, as well as the expediency of appropriating a considerable

portion of the money obtained, by the sales of land, towards alleviating

the miseries our occupation of their country has occasioned to the

original owners.

[Note 44a: "That it appears to memorialists that the original occupants of

the soil have an irresistible claim on the Government of this country for

support, inasmuch as the presence of the colonists abridges their means

of subsistence, whilst it furnishes to the public treasury a large

revenue in the shape of fees for licences and assessments on stock,

together with the very large sums paid for land seized by the Crown, and

alienated to private individuals.

"That it appears to memorialists that the interests at once of the

natives and the colonists would be most effectually promoted by the

government reserving suitable portions of land within the territorial

limits of the respective tribes, with the view of weaning them

from their erratic habits, forming thereon depots for supplying

them with provisions and clothing, under the charge of individuals

of exemplary moral character, taking at the same time an interest

in their welfare, and who would endeavour to instruct them in agricultural

and other useful arts."--Extract from Memorial of the Settlers of

the County of Grant, in the district of Port Phillip, to His Excellency

Sir G. Gipps, in 1840.]

Surely if we acknowledge the first principles of justice, or if we admit

the slightest claims of humanity on behalf of these debased, but harshly

treated people, we are bound, in honour and in equity, to afford them

that subsistence which we have deprived them of the power of providing

for themselves.

It may, perhaps, be replied, and at first it might seem, with some

appearance of speciousness, that all is done that can be done for them,

that each of the Colonial Governments annually devotes a portion of its

revenue to the improvement, instruction, and maintenance of the natives.

So far this is very praiseworthy, but does it in any degree compensate

for the evil inflicted?

The money usually voted by the councils of Government, towards defraying

expenses incurred on behalf of the Aborigines of Australia, is but a very

small per centage upon the sums that have been received for the sales of

lands, and is principally expended in defraying the salaries of

protectors, in supporting schools, providing food or clothing for one or

two head stations, and perhaps supplying a few blankets once in the year

to some of the outstations. Little is expended in the daily provisioning

of the natives generally, and especially in the more distant country

districts least populated by Europeans, but most densely occupied by

natives, and where the very thinness of the European inhabitants

precludes the Aborigines from resorting to the same sources to supply

their wants, that are open to them in a town, or more thickly inhabited

district. Such are those afforded by the charity of individuals, by the

rewards received for performing trifling services of work, by the

obtaining vast quantities of offal, or of broken victuals, which are

always abundant in a country where animal food is used in excess, and

where the heat of the climate daily renders much of it unfit for

consumption in the family, and by others of a similar nature.

Such resources, however humiliating and pernicious they are in their

effects, are not open to the tribes living in a district almost

exclusively occupied by the sheep or cattle of the settler, and where the

very numbers of the stock only more completely drive away the original

game upon which the native had been accustomed to subsist, and hold out a

greater temptation to him to supply his wants from the superabundance

which he sees around him, belonging to those by whom he has been

dispossessed. The following appropriate remarks are an extract from

Report of Aborigines' Protection Society, of March, 1841, (published in

the South Australian Register, 4th December, 1841.)

"Under that system it is obvious to every coloured man, even the least

intelligent, that the extending settlements of the Europeans involve a

sentence of banishment, and eventual extermination, upon his tribe and

race. Major Mitchell, in his travels, refers to this apprehension on the

part of the Aborigines--"White man come, Kangaroo go away"--from which as

an inevitable consequence follows--"black man famished away." If, then,

this appears a necessary result of the unjust, barbarous, unchristian

mode of colonization pursued in New Holland, over-looking the other

incidental, and more pointedly aggravating provocations, to the coloured

man, associated with that system, how natural, in his case, is an enmity

which occasionally visits some of the usurping race with death! We call

the offence in him MURDER; but let the occasion be only examined, and we

must discover that, in so designating it, we are imposing geographical,

or national restrictions, upon the virtue of patriotism; or that in the

mani-festations of that principle, we make no allowances for the

influence on its features of the relative degradation or elevation of

those among whom it is met.

"Our present colonization system renders the native and the colonizing

races from necessity belligerents; and there can be no real peace, no

real amity, no mutual security, so long as that system is not substituted

by one reconciling the interest of both races. Colonists will fall before

the spears and the waddies of incensed Aborigines, and they in return

will be made the victims of 'summary justice.'

"In cases of executive difficulty, the force of popular prejudice will be

apt to be too strong for the best intentioned Governor to withstand it;

Europeans will have sustained injury; the strict forms of legal justice

may be found of difficult application to a race outcast or degraded,

although ORIGINALLY in a condition fitted to appreciate them, to benefit

by them, and reflect their benefits upon others; impatient at this

difficulty, the delay it may occasion, and the shelter from ultimate

punishment, the temptation will ever be strong to revert to summary

methods of proceeding; and thus, as in a circle, injustice will be found

to flow reciprocal injury, and from injury injustice again, in another

form. The source of all these evils, and of all this injustice, is the

unreserved appropriation of native lands, and the denial, in the first

instance of colonization, of equal civil rights. To the removal of those

evils, so far as they can be removed in the older settlements, to their

prevention in new colonies, the friends of the Aborigines are invoked to

direct their energy; to be pacified with the attainment of nothing less;

for nothing less will really suffice."

Can it be deemed surprising that a rude, uncivilized being, driven from

his home, deprived of all his ordinary means of subsistence [Note 45 at

end of para.], and pressed perhaps by a hostile tribe from behind, should

occasionally be guilty of aggressions or injuries towards his oppressors?

The wonder rather is, not that these things do sometimes occur, but that

they occur so rarely.

[Note 45: "If you can still be generous to the conquered, relieve the

hunger which drives us in despair to slaughter your flocks and the men who

guard them. Our fields and forests, which once furnished us with abundance

of vegetable and animal food, now yield us no more; they and their produce

are yours; you prosper on our native soil, and we are famishing."

--STRZELECKI'S N. S. WALES, p. 356.]

In addition to the many other inconsistencies in our conduct towards the

Aborigines, not the least extraordinary is that of placing them, on the

plea of protection, under the influence of our laws, and of making them

British subjects. Strange anomaly, which by the former makes amenable to

penalties they are ignorant of, for crimes which they do not consider as

such, or which they may even have been driven to commit by our own

injustice; and by the latter but mocks them with an empty sound, since

the very laws under which we profess to place them, by their nature and

construction are inoperative in affording redress to the injured.

[Note 46: "To subject savage tribes to the penalties of laws with which

they are unacquainted, for offences which they, very possibly, regard as

acts of justifiable retaliation for invaded rights, is a proceeding

indefensible, except under circumstances of urgent and extreme

necessity."--Fourth Report of the Colonization Commissioners, presented to

the House of Commons, 29th July, 1840.

"The late act, declaring them naturalized as British subjects, has only

rendered them legally amenable to the English criminal law, and added one

more anomaly to all the other enactments affecting them. This

naturalization excludes them from sitting on a jury, or appearing as

witnesses, and entails a most confused form of judicial proceedings; all

which, taken together, has made of the Aborigines of Australia a

nondescript caste, who, to use their own phraseology, are 'neither black

nor white.'"--Strzelecki's N. S. Wales.]

If, in addition to the many evils and disadvantages the natives must

necessarily be subject to from our presence, we take still further into

account the wrongs they are exposed to from the ill feeling towards them

which has sometimes existed among the settlers, or their servants, on the

outskirts of the country; the annoyances they are harassed by, even where

this feeling does not exist, in being driven away from their usual haunts

and pursuits (and this is a practice often adopted by the remote grazier

as a mere matter of policy to avoid trouble or the risk of a collision);

we shall find upon the whole that they have often just causes of offence,

and that there are many circumstances connected with their crimes which,

from the peculiar position they are placed in, may well require from us

some mitigation of the punishment that would be exacted from Europeans

for the same misdeeds.

Captain Grey has already remarked the strong prejudice and recklessness

of human life which frequently exist on the part of the settlers with

regard to the natives. Nor has this feeling been confined to Western

Australia alone. In all the colonies, that I have been in, I have myself

observed that a harsh and unjust tone has occasionally been adopted in

speaking of the Aborigines; and that where a feeling of prejudice does

not exist against them, there is too often a great indifference

manifested as to their fate. I do not wish it to be understood that such

is always the case; on the contrary, I know that the better, and right

thinking part of the community, in all the colonies, not only disavow

such feelings, but are most anxious, as far as lies in their power, to

promote the interests and welfare of the natives. Still, there are always

some, in every settlement, whose passions, prejudices, interests, or

fears, obliterate their sense of right and wrong, and by whom these poor

wanderers of the woods are looked upon as intruders in their own country,

or as vermin that infest the land, and whose blood may be shed with as

little compunction as that of the wild animals they are compared to.

By those who have heard the dreadful accounts current in Western

Australia, and New South Wales, of the slaughter formerly committed by

military parties, or by the servants [Note 47 at end of para.] of the

settlers upon the Aborigines, in which it is stated that men, women, and

children have been surprised, surrounded and shot down indiscriminately,

at their camps at night; or who have heard such deeds, or other similar

ones, justified or boasted of, it will readily be believed to what an

extent the feeling I have alluded to has occasionally been carried, and

to what excesses it has led. [Note 48 appears after Note 47, below]

[Note 47: The following extract from a reply of his Honour the

Superintendent of Port Phillip to the representation made to his Honour

by the settlers and inhabitants of the district of Port Fairy, in

March 1842, shews that these frightful atrocities against the natives

had not even then ceased.

"That the presence of a protector in your district, and other means of

prevention hitherto employed, have not succeeded better than they have

done in repressing aggression or retaliation, and have failed to establish

a good understanding between the natives and the European settlers,

is greatly to be deplored.

"As far as the local government has power, every practicable extension

of these arrangements shall be made without delay; but, gentlemen,

however harsh, a plain truth must be told, the destruction of

European property, and even the occasional sacrifice of European

life, by the hands of the savage tribes, among whom you live, if

unprovoked and unrevenged, may justly claim sympathy and pity; but the

feeling of abhorrence which one act of savage retaliation or cruelty on

your part will rouse, must weaken, if not altogether obliterate every

other, in the minds of most men; and I regret to state, that I have

before me a statement presented in a form which I dare not discredit,

shewing that such acts are perpetrated among you.

"It reveals a nightly attack upon a small number of natives, by a

party of the white inhabitants of your district, and the murder of

no fewer than three defenceless aboriginal women and a child, in

their sleeping place; and this at the very time your memorial was

in the act of signature, and in the immediate vicinity of the station

of two of the parties who have signed it. Will not the commission of

such crimes call down the wrath of God, and do more to check the

prosperity of your district, and to ruin your prospects, than all

the difficulties and losses under which you labour?" Mr. Sievewright's

letter gives an account of this infamous transaction.

"WESTERN ABORIGINAL ESTABLISHMENT,

THOLOR, 26TH FEBRUARY, 1842.

"Sir,--I have the honour to report that on the afternoon

of the 24th instant, two aboriginal natives, named Pwe-bin-gan-nai,

Calangamite, returned to this encampment, which they had left with their

families on the 22nd, and reported 'that late on the previous evening,

while they with their wives, two other females, and two children, were

asleep at a tea-tree scrub, called One-one-derang, a party of eight white

people on horseback surrounded them, dismounted, and fired upon them with

pistols; that three women and a child had been thus killed, and the other

female so severely wounded as to be unable to stand or be removed by

them;' they had saved themselves and the child, named 'Uni bicqui-ang,'

by flight, who was brought to this place upon their shoulders.

"At daybreak yesterday I proceeded to the spot indicated, and there found

the dead bodies of three women, and a male child about three years of age;

and also found a fourth woman dangerously wounded by gunshot wounds, and

severely scorched on the limbs by the discharge of fire-arms.

"Having proceeded to the station of the Messrs. Osbrey and Smith, distant

about 700 yards from where the bodies were found, and requested the

presence of those gentlemen as witnesses, I proceeded to view the bodies,

upon which were found the wounds as set forth in the accompanying report.

"All knowledge of this barbarous transaction is denied by the proprietors,

overseer, and servants at the home station, so near to which the bodies

were found, nor have I as yet obtained any information which may lead to

the discovery of the perpetrators of these murders.

"I have, etc.

(Signed) "C. W. SIEVEWRIGHT."

James Croke, Esq.,

Crown Prosecutor,"

etc. etc. etc.

Description of Gun-shot Wounds upon the bodies of three Aboriginal Women

and One Male Child found dead, and an Aboriginal Woman found wounded in a

tea-tree scrub, near the Station of Messrs. Osbrey and Smith, Portland

District, upon the 25th of February, 1842, by Assistant-Protector

Sievewright.

"No. 1. Recognised by the assistant-protector as

'Wooi-goning,' wife of an Aboriginal native 'Pui-bui-gannei;' one gun-shot

wound through the chest (a ball), and right thigh broken by a gun-shot

wound (a ball).

"No. 2. Child (male); one gun-shot wound through the chest (a bullet),

left thigh lacerated by some animal.

"No. 3. Woman big with child; one gun-shot wound through the chest

(a bullet), left side scorched.

"No. 4. Woman; gun-shot wound through abdomen (a bullet), by right hip;

gun-shot wound, left arm broken, (a bullet.)

"No. 5. Woman wounded; gun-shot wound in back (a ball), gun-shot through

right hand (a ball).

"(Signed)

"C. W. SIEVEWRIGHT."]

[Note 48: The belief on the part of the Home authorities that such deeds

did occur, and their opinion, so many years ago, regarding them, may be

gathered from the following extract from a despatch from Lord Glenelg to

Governor Sir James Stirling, dated 23rd of July, 1835. "I perceive, with

deep concern, that collisions still exist between the colonists and the

natives.

"It is impossible, however, to regard such conflicts without

regret and anxiety, when we recollect how fatal, in too many instances,

our colonial settlements have proved to the natives of the places where

they have been formed.

"It will be your duty to impress upon the settlers that it is the

determination of the Government to visit any act of injustice or

violence on the natives, with the utmost severity, and that in no

case will those convicted of them, remain unpunished. Nor will it

be sufficient simply to punish the guilty, but ample compensation must be

made to the injured party, for the wrong received. You will make it

imperative upon the officers of police never to allow any injustice or

insult in regard to the natives to pass by unnoticed, as being of too

trifling a character; and they should be charged to report to you, with

punctuality, every instance of aggression or misconduct. Every neglect of

this point of duty you will mark with the highest displeasure."

Such were the benevolent views entertained by the Government in England

towards the Aborigines ten years ago, and it might be readily proved from

many despatches of subsequent Secretaries of State to the different

Governors, that such have been their feelings since, and yet how little

has been done in ten years to give a practical effect to their good

intentions towards the natives.]

Were other evidence necessary to substantiate this point, it would be

only requisite to refer to the tone in which the natives are so often

spoken of by the Colonial newspapers, to the fact that a large number of

colonists in New South Wales, including many wealthy landed proprietors

and magistrates, petitioned the Local Government on behalf of a party of

convicts, found guilty on the clearest testimony of having committed one

of the most wholesale, cold-blooded, and atrocious butcheries of the

Aborigines ever recorded [Note 49 at end of para.], and to the acts of the

Colonial Governments themselves, who have found it necessary, sometimes,

to prohibit fire-arms at out-stations, and have been compelled to take

away the assigned servants, or withdraw the depasturing licences of

individuals, because they have been guilty of aggression upon the

Aborigines.

[Note 49: Seven men were hanged for this offence, on the 18th of December,

1838. In the Sydney Monitor, published on the 24th or next issue after the

occurrence, is the following paragraph:--

"The following conversation between two gentlemen took place in the

military barrack square, on Tuesday, just after the execution of the seven

murderers of the native blacks, and while General O'Connell was reviewing

the troops of the garrison.

"COUNTRY GENTLEMAN.--So I find they have hanged these men.

"TOWN GENTLEMAN. --They have."

"COUNTRY GENTLEMAN.--Ah! hem, we are going on a safer game now.

"TOWN GENTLEMAN. --Safer game! how do you mean?"

"COUNTRY GENTLEMAN.--Why, we are poisoning the blacks; which is much

better, and serve them right too!"

"We vouch for the truth of this conversation, and for the very words;

and will prove our statement, if public justice should, in our

opinion require it."

The following letter from His Honour the Superintendent of Port Philip

shews, that even in 1843, suspicions were entertained in the colony,

that this most horrible and inhuman cruelty towards the Aborigines had

lately been practised there.

"Melbourne, 17th March, 1843.

"SIR,--I have the honour to report, for his Excellency's information,

that in the month of December last, I received a letter from the Chief

Protector, enclosing a communication received from Dr. Wotton, the

gentleman in charge of the Aboriginal station at Mount Rouse, stating that

a rumour had reached him that a considerable number of Aborigines had

been poisoned at the station of Dr. Kilgour, near Port Fairy.

"I delayed communicating this circumstance at the time, as I expected

the Chief Protector and his assistants would find it practicable to

bring the crime home to the parties accused of having perpetrated it;

but I regret to state, that every attempt to discover the guilty

parties has hitherto proved ineffectual, and that although there

may be strong grounds of suspicion that such a deed had been perpetrated,

and that certain known parties in this district were the perpetrators,

yet it seems nearly impossible to obtain any legal proof to bear on

either one point or the other.

"I beg leave to enclose copies of two communications which I have received

from Mr. Robinson on the subject.

"I have, etc.

"(Signed)

"C. J. LATROBE."

"The Honourable the Colonial Secretary,

etc. etc. etc."

Rumours of another similar occurrence existed in the settlements

north of Sydney, about the same time. To the inquiries made on the

subject, by the Government, the following letters refer.

"Moreton Bay, Zion's Hill, 14th January 1843.

"Sir,--In reply to your inquiry respecting the grounds on which I made

mention in my journal, kept during a visit to the Bunga Bunga country,

of a considerable number of blacks having been poisoned in the

northern part of this district, I beg leave to state, that having

returned from Sydney in the month of March 1842, I learnt, first,

by my coadjutor, the Rev. Mr. Epper, that such a rumour was spreading,

of which I have good reason to believe also his Excellency the Governor

was informed during his stay at Moreton Bay. I learnt, secondly,

by the lay missionaries, Messrs. Nique and Rode, who returned

from an excursion to "Umpie-boang" in the first week of April, that

natives of different tribes, who were collecting from the north for a

fight, had related the same thing to them as a fact. Messrs. Nique and

Rode have made this statement also in their diary, which is laid before

our committee in Sydney. I learnt, thirdly, by the runaway Davis, when

collecting words and phrases of the northern dialect from him, previous

to my expedition to the Bunga Bunga country, that there was not the least

doubt but such a deed had been done, and moreover that the relatives of

the poisoned blacks, being in great fury, were going to revenge

themselves. Davis considered it, therefore, exceedingly dangerous for us

to proceed to the north, mentioning at the same time, that two white men

had already been killed by blacks in consequence of poisoning. I

ascertained likewise from him the number, 50 or 60.

"When inquiring of him whether he had not reported this fact to

yourself, he replied, that both he, himself, and Bracewell, the

other runaway, whom Mr. Petrie had brought back from the Wide Bay,

had done so, and that you had stated it fully in your report to his

Excellency the Governor, respecting himself and Bracewell.

"4. The natives who had carried our provisions up to Mr. Archer's station,

made the same statement to us, as a reason why they would not accompany

us any farther to the Bunga Bunga country.

"When writing down, therefore, my journal, I considered it unnecessary to

make a full statement of all that had come to my knowledge since the month

of March, concerning that most horrid event, or even to relate it as

something new, as it was not only known several months since to the

respective authorities, but also as almost every one at Moreton Bay

supposed that an investigation would take place without delay.

"I have, etc.

"(signed) "WILLIAM SCHMIDT,

"Missionary.""S. Simpson, Esq.,

"Commissioner of Crown Lands,

"Eagle Farm."

"WOOGAROO, MORETON BAY, 6TH MAY, 1843.

"Sir,--I have the honour to report, for the information of his Excellency,

that during my excursion to the Bunga country, I have taken every

opportunity of instituting an inquiry as to the truth of the alleged

poisoning of some Aborigines at a sheep station in the north of this

district. A report of the kind certainly exists among the two tribes I

fell in with, namely, the Dallambarah and Coccombraral tribes, but as

neither of them were present at the time, they could give me no

circumstantial information whatever on the subject. The Giggabarah

tribe, the one said to have suffered, I was unable to meet with.

Upon inquiry at the stations to the north, I could learn nothing

further than that they had been using arsenic very extensively for

the cure of the scab, in which operation sheep are occasionally

destroyed by some of the fluid getting down their throats; and as the

men employed frequently neglect to bury the carcases, it is very possible

that the Aborigines may have devoured them, particularly the entrails,

which they are very fond of, and that hence some accident of the kind

alluded to may have occurred without their knowledge.

"I have, etc.

"(signed) S. SIMPSON,

"Commissioner of Crown Lands."

"The Honourable E. D. Thomson,

"Colonial Secretary."

For the sake of humanity I would hope that such unheard of atrocities

cannot really have existed. That the bare suspicion even of such crimes

should have originated and gained currency in more than one district

of Australia, is of itself a fearful indication of the feeling

among the lowest classes in the colonies, and of the harrowing

deeds to which that might lead.

Extract from South Australian Registe, 10th of July, 1841, after the

return of Major O'Halloran and a party of sixty-eight individuals, sent

up the Murray to try and rescue property stolen by blacks. "In the mean

time we cannot but think that the DISAPPOINTMENT SO GENERALLY

EXPRESSED, because Major O'Halloran has returned 'WITHOUT FIRING A SHOT,'

is somewhat unreasonable, seeing that in his presence the natives DID

NOTHING TO WARRANT AN EXTREME MEASURE, and that there were no means of

identifying either the robbers of Mr. Inman, or the murderers of Mr.

Langhorne's servants. It is quite clear that a legally authorised English

force could not be permitted to fire indiscriminately upon the natives AS

SOME PERSONS THINK they ought to have done, or to fire at all, save when

attacked, or under circumstances in which any white subject of the Queen

might be shot at. We KNOW that many overland parties HAVE NOT HESITATED

TO FIRE AT THE NATIVES WHEREVER THEY APPEARED; and it is possible that

the tribes now hostilely disposed may have received some provocation."]

The following extract from a letter addressed by the Chief Protector of

the Port Phillip district, Mr. Robinson, to his Honour the Superintendent

at Melbourne, shews that officer's opinion of the feeling of the lower

class of the settlers' servants, with regard to the Aborigines in

Australia Felix.

"Anterior to my last expedition I had seen a large portion of this

province; I have now seen nearly the entire, and, in addition, have made

myself thoroughly acquainted with the character of its inhabitants.

"The settlers are, for the most part, a highly respectable body of men,

many, to my knowledge, deeply commiserating the condition of the natives;

a few have been engaged in the work of their amelioration; these,

however, are but isolated instances; the majority are averse to having

the natives, and drive them from their runs.

"Nothing could afford me greater pleasure than to see a reciprocity of

interest established between the settler and aborigine, and it would

delight me to see the settlers engaged in the great work of their

amelioration; and though on the part of the settlers, a large majority

would readily engage, I nevertheless feel persuaded that, until a better

class of peasantry be introduced, and a code of judicature suited to the

condition of the natives, its practicability, as a general principle, is

unattainable.

"In the course of my wanderings through the distant interior, I found it

necessary, in order to arrive at a correct judgment, to observe the

relative character of both classes, i. e. the European and the Aborigine.

The difficulty on the part of the Aborigine by proper management can be

overcome; but the difficulty on the part of the depraved white man is of

far different character, and such as to require that either their place

should be supplied by a more honest and industrious peasantry, or that a

more suitable code of judicature be established, to restrain their

nefarious proceedings with reference to the aboriginal natives.

"I found, on my last expedition, that a large majority of the white

servants employed at the stock stations in the distant interior were, for

the most part, men of depraved character; and it was with deep regret

that I observed that they were all armed; and in the estimation of some

of these characters, with whom I conversed, I found that the life of a

native was considered to be of no more value than that of a wild dog. The

settlers complained generally of the bad character of their men. The

saying is common among them, 'That the men and not we are the masters.'

The kind of treatment evinced towards the aboriginal natives in remote

parts of the interior by this class of persons, may be easily imagined;

but as I shall have occasion more fully to advert to this topic in the

report I am about to transmit to the Government, I shall defer for the

present offering further observations.

"The bad character of the white servants is a reason assigned by many

settlers for keeping the natives from their stations. At a few

establishments, viz. Norman M'Leod's, Baillie's, Campbell's, Lenton's,

and Urquhart's, an amicable and friendly relation has been maintained for

several years; the Aborigines are employed and found useful. I visited

these stations; and the proprietors assured me the natives had never done

them any injury; the natives also spoke in high terms of these parties.

There are other settlers also who have rendered assistance in improving

the condition of the natives, and to whom I shall advert in my next

report.

"Whether the proprietors of these establishments devote more attention,

or whether their white servants are of less nefarious character than

others, I am not prepared to say; but the facts I have stated are

incontrovertible, and are sufficient to shew the reclaimability of the

natives, when proper persons are engaged, and suitable means had recourse

to. I cannot but accede to the proposition, namely, that of holding out

inducements to all who engage in the amelioration of the aboriginal

natives. Those who have had experience, who have been tried and found

useful, ought to have such inducements held out to them as would ensure a

continuance of their appointments, the more especially as it has always

been found difficult to obtain suitable persons for this hazardous and

peculiar service."

The following extract from another letter, also addressed to his Honour

the Superintendent, shews the opinions and feelings of the writer, a

Magistrate of the Colony, and a Commissioner of Crown Lands, in the

Geelong district.

"In offering my candid opinion, I submissively beg leave to state, that

for the last three years, on all occasions, I have been a friend to the

natives; but from my general knowledge of their habits of idleness,

extreme cunning, vice, and villany, that it is out of the power of all

exertion that can be bestowed on them to do good by them; and I further

beg leave to state, that I can plainly see the general conduct of the

native growing worse, and, if possible, more useless, and daily more

daring. One and all appear to consider that no punishment awaits them.

This idea has latterly been instilled into their minds with, I should

think, considerable pains, and also that the white men should be punished

for the least offence.

"In reply to the latter part of your letter, I beg leave to bring to your

notice that, at considerable risk, two years ago, I apprehended a native

for the murder of one of Mr. Learmonth's men, near Bunengang. He was

committed to Sydney gaol, and at the expiration of a year he was returned

to Melbourne to be liberated, and is now at large. In the case of Mr.

Thomson's, that I apprehended two, and both identified by the men who so

fortunately escaped. It is a difficult thing to apprehend natives, and

with great risk of life on both sides. On the Grange, and many parts of

the country, it would be impossible to take them; AND IN MY OPINION, the

only plan to bring them to a fit and proper state is to insist on the

gentlemen in the country to protect their property, AND TO DEAL WITH SUCH

USELESS SAVAGES ON THE SPOT."

Captain Grey bears testimony to similar feelings and occurrences in

Western Australia. In speaking of capturing some natives, he says, vol.

2. p. 351. "It was necessary that I should proceed with great caution, in

order not to alarm the guilty parties when they saw us approaching, in

which case, I should have had no chance of apprehending them, and I did

not intend to adopt the popular system of shooting them when they ran

away." And again, at page 356, he says, "It was better that I, an

impartial person, should see that they were properly punished for theft,

than that the Europeans should fire indiscriminately upon them, as had

lately been done, in another quarter."

Even in South Australia, where the Colonists have generally been more

concentrated, and where it might naturally be supposed there would be

less likelihood of offenders of this kind escaping detection and

punishment, there are not wanting instances of unnecessary and

unprovoked, and sometimes of wanton injury upon the natives. In almost

all cases of this description, it is quite impracticable from the

inadmissibility of native evidence, or from some other circumstances, to

bring home conviction to the guilty. [Note 50 at end of para.] On the

other hand, where natives commit offences against Europeans, if they can

be caught, the punishment is certain and severe. Already since the

establishment of South Australia as a colony, six natives have been tried

and hung, for crimes against Europeans, and many others have been shot or

wounded, by the police and military in their attempts to capture or

prevent their escape. No European has, however, yet paid the penalties of

the law, for aggressions upon the Aborigines, though many have deserved

to do so. The difficulty consists in legally bringing home the offence,

or in refuting the absurd stories that are generally made up in

justification of it.

[Note 50: Vide Chapter 9, of Notes on the Aborigines.]

A single instance or two will be sufficient, in illustration of the

impunity which generally attends these acts of violence. On the 25th

January, 1843, the sheep at a station of Mr. Hughes, upon the Hutt river,

had been scattered during the night, and some of them were missing. It

was concluded the natives had been there, and taken them, as the tracks

of naked feet were said to have been found near the folds. Upon these

grounds two of Mr. Hughes' men, and one belonging to Mr. Jacobs, another

settler in the neighbourhood, took arms, and went out to search for the

natives. About a mile from the station they met with one native and his

wife, whom they asked to accompany them back to the station, promising

bread and flour for so doing. They consented to go, but were then

escorted AS PRISONERS, the two men of Mr. Hughes' guarding the male

native, and Mr. Jacobs' servant (a person named Gregory) the female.

Naturally alarmed at the predicament they were in, the man ran off,

pursued by his two guards, but escaped. The woman took another direction,

pursued by Gregory, who recaptured her, and she was said to have then

seized Gregory's gun, and to have struck at him several blows with a

heavy stick, upon which, being afraid that he would be overcome, HE SHOT

HER. Mr. Hughes, the owner of the lost sheep, came up a few moments after

the woman was shot, and heard Gregory's story concerning it, but no marks

of his receiving any blows were shewn. On the 23rd of March, he was tried

for the offence of manslaughter; there did not appear the slightest

extenuating circumstances beyond his own story, and his master giving him

a good character, and yet the jury, without retiring, returned a verdict

of Not Guilty!

At the very next sittings of the Supreme Court Criminal Sessions, another

and somewhat analogous case appeared. The following remarks were made by

His Honour Judge Cooper, to the Grand Jury respecting it: "There was also

a case of manslaughter to be tried, and he called their attention to

this, because it did not appear in the Calendar. The person charged was

named Skelton, and as appeared from the depositions, was in custody of

some sheep, when an alarm of the rushing of the sheep being given, he

looked and saw something climbing over the fence, and subsequently

something crawling along the ground, upon which he fired off his piece,

and hit the object, which upon examination turned out to be a native. The

night was dark, and the native was brought into the hut, where he died

the next day. He could not help observing, that cases of this kind were

much more frequent than was creditable to the reputation of the Colony.

Last Sessions a man was tried and acquitted of the charge of killing a

native woman. That verdict was a very merciful one, but not so merciful,

he trusted, as to countenance the idea that the lives of the natives are

held too cheaply. The only observation that he would make upon this case

was, that it was ONE OF GREAT SUSPICION."

[Note 51: I believe this case was not brought to trial.]

Other cases have occurred in which some of the circumstances have come

under my own notice, and when Europeans have committed wanton aggressions

on the Aborigines, and have then made up a plausible story to account for

what had taken place, but where, from obvious circumstances, it was quite

impossible to disprove or rebut their tale, however improbable it might

be. In the Port Phillip District in 1841, Mr. Chief Protector thus writes

to the local Government.

"Already appalling collisions have happened between the white and

aboriginal inhabitants, and, although instances, it is possible, have

transpired when natives have been the aggressors, yet it will be found

that the largest majority originated with the Europeans. The lives of

aboriginal natives known to have been destroyed are many, and if the

testimony of natives be admissible, the amount would be great indeed; but

even in cases where the Aborigines are said to be the aggressors, who can

tell what latent provocation existed for perpetrating it? Of the numerous

cases that could be cited, the following from a recent journal of an

assistant protector, Mr. Parker, of the Lodden, will suffice to shew the

insurmountable difficulty, I may add the impossibility, of bringing the

guilty parties to justice, for in nine cases, I may say, out of ten,

where natives are concerned, the only evidence that can be adduced is

that of the Aborigines.

"This evidence is not admissible. Indeed the want of a code, suited to

the Aborigines, is now so strongly felt, and of such vital importance to

the welfare and existence of the natives, that I earnestly trust that

this important subject may be brought under the early consideration and

notice of Her Majesty's Government.

"The following is the extract from Mr. Parker's journal referred to: 'On

the 8th of March 1841, I proceeded to the Pyrenees to investigate the

circumstances connected with the slaughter of several Aborigines, by a

Mr. Frances. On the 9th and 10th I fell in with different parties of

natives. From the last of these I obtained some distressing statements,

as to the slaughter of the blacks; they gave me the names of seven

individuals shot by Mr. Frances within the last six months. I found,

however, no legal evidence attainable. The only persons present in the

last and most serious affair with the Aborigines, which took place in

December of last year, were Frances, a person named Downes, and a

stock-keeper in Melbourne. No other admissible evidence of the death of

these poor people can be obtained than what Frances's written statement

conveys. In that he reports that he and the person before named WENT OUT

IN CONSEQUENCE OF SEEING THE BUSH ON FIRE, AND FELL IN SUDDENLY WITH SOME

NATIVES, ON WHOM THEY FIRED AND KILLED FOUR. The natives say six were

slain, and their information on that point is more to be depended on.

Owing to the legal disabilities of the Aborigines, this case must be

added with many others which have passed without judicial notice. I

cannot, however, but wish that squatting licenses were withheld from

persons who manifest such an utter disregard of human life as Mr.

Frances, even on his own shewing, has done.'

"And in this latter sentiment, under existing circumstances, I most

cordially agree. In Frances' case, the PERPETRATOR ADMITS his having SHOT

FOUR ABORIGINES, and for aught that is shewn to the contrary, it was AN

UNPROVOKED AGGRESSION. The natives, whose testimony Mr. Parker states,

can be relied upon, affirm that six were slain, and these within the

brief period of six months.

"In my last expedition I visited the country of the 'Barconedeets,' the

tribe attacked by Frances; of these I found a few sojourning with the

"Portbullucs,' a people inhabiting the country near Mount Zero, the

northernmost point of the Grampians. These persons complained greatly of

the treatment they had received, and confirmed the statement made to the

sub-protector by the other natives. The following are a few of the

collisions, from authentic documents brought under the notice of this

department, that have happened between settlers and Aborigines, and are

respectfully submitted for the information of the Government.

"CASES.--CHARLES WEDGE AND OTHERS.--Five natives killed and others

wounded at the Grampians.

"AYLWARD AND OTHERS.--Several natives killed and others wounded at the

Grampians. In this case Aylward deposed, 'that there must have been a

great many wounded and several killed, as he saw blood upon the grass,

and in the tea-tree two or three dead bodies.'

"MESSRS. WHYTE'S FIRST COLLISION.--William Whyte deposed that 30 natives

were present, and they were all killed but two, and one of these it is

reported died an hour after of his wounds.

"DARLOT.--One native shot. Two natives shot near Portland Bay by the

servants of the Messrs. Henty.

"HUTTON AND MOUNTED POLICE.--The written report of this case states,

'that the party overtook the aborigines at the junction of the

'Campaspee;' they fired, and it is stated, that to the best of the belief

of the party, five or six were killed.' In the opinion of the

sub-protector a greater number were slain.

"MESSRS. WINTER AND OTHERS.--On this occasion five natives were killed.

"One black shot by Frances.

"MUNROE AND POLICE.--Two blacks shot and others wounded.

"The following from Lloyd's deposition:--'We fired on them; I have no

doubt some were killed; there were between forty and fifty natives.'

"BY PERSONS UNKNOWN.--A native of the Coligan tribe killed by white

persons.

"MESSRS. WEDGE AND OTHERS.--Three natives killed and others wounded.

"Names of Taylor and Lloyd are mentioned as having shot a black at Lake

Colac.

"WHYTE'S SECOND COLLISION.--ALLAN'S CASE.--Two natives shot.

"Taylor was overseer of a sheep station in the Western district, and was

notorious for killing natives. No legal evidence could be obtained

against this nefarious individual. The last transaction in which he was

concerned, was of so atrocious a nature, that he thought fit to abscond,

and he has not been heard of since. No legal evidence was attainable in

this latter case. There is no doubt the charges preferred were true, for

in the course of my inquiries on my late expedition, I found a tribe, a

section of the Jarcoorts, totally extinct, and it was affirmed by the

natives that Taylor had destroyed them. The tribes are rapidly

diminishing. The 'Coligans,' once a numerous and powerful people,

inhabiting the fertile region of Lake 'Colac,' are now reduced, all ages

and sexes, under forty, and these are still on the decay. The Jarcoorts,

inhabiting the country to the west of the great lake 'Carangermite,' once

a very numerous and powerful people, are now reduced to under sixty. But

time would fail, and I fear it would be deemed too prolix, were I to

attempt to particularise in ever so small a degree, the previous state,

condition, and declension of the original inhabitants of so extensive a

province."

Upon the same subject, His Honour the Superintendent of Port Phillip thus

writes:--

"On this subject, I beg leave to remark that great impediments evidently

do interpose themselves in the way of instituting proper judicial inquiry

into the causes and consequences of the frequent acts of collision

between the settlers and the aboriginal natives, and into the conduct of

the settlers on such occasions. I am quite ready to lament with the

Protectors, that numerous as the cases have unfortunately been in which

the lives of the Aborigines have been taken in this district, IN NO

SINGLE INSTANCE HAS THE SETTLER BEEN BROUGHT BEFORE THE PROPER TRIBUNAL."

Many similar instances might be adduced to shew the little chance there

is of evidence enough being procurable, even to cause the aggressor to be

put upon his trial, still less to produce his conviction.

Independently of the instances of wanton outrage, which sometimes are

perpetrated on the outskirts of the settled districts by the lowest and

most abandoned of our countrymen, there are occasions also, when equal

injuries are inflicted unintentionally, from inexperience or

indiscretion, on the part of those whose duty it is to protect rather

than destroy, when the innocent have been punished instead of the

guilty [Note 52 at end of para.], and thus the very efforts made to

preserve peace and good order, have inadvertently become the means of

subverting them.